$600
every day. I had money to sell (or throw away), and, for a boy,
I made it fly. In a short time the police began to raid us, and
we would be fined fifty dollars each about once a month. Then they
raised it to $100, and next to $500. This was too much, so we had
heavy oak and iron doors put up; but the police would batter them
down, and get us just the same. One night they surrounded the
house, broke down the door, and arrested my two partners; but I
escaped by the roof. The next day I went up to the jail to take
the boys something to eat, when they nabbed and locked me up also.
They put me in the same cell with Kissane, of the steamer _Martha
Washington_ notoriety, who was living in great style at the jail.
They fined us $500 each and let us go, and that broke up "Rondo."

After retiring from the "Rondo" business, I took passage with
Captain Riddle on the steamer _Ann Livington_ bound for the Wabash
River, to visit a sister, who lived near Bloomfield, Edgar County,
Ills. There were no railroads in that part of the country in those
days. My sister's husband bought 3,000 acres of land near Paris,
at $1.25 per acre, and the same land is now worth $300 per acre.
During my trip up the river I formed the acquaintance of Sam Burges,
who was a great circus man. Captain Riddle and Burges got to paying
poker, and the Captain "bested" him for about $200. I told Burges
that I could make him win if he could get me into the game. So,
after supper, they sat down to play, and I was a looker-on. Burges
asked me to take a hand, which I did, and on my deal I would "fill"
his hand, so that he soon had the Captain badly rattled, and he
lost about $900. The old Captain was getting "full," and I looked
for a fight sooner or later. Burges invited all to take a drink,
when the Captain refused, and told Burges that he was a "d----d
gambler." Burges called him a liar, so at it they went. The
Captain was getting the best of it when we parted them, and it was
all we could do to keep Burges from shooting. I got one-half of
the $900, and no one called me a gambler either.

As the boat was going through the "draw," at Terre Haute, she took
a "shear" on the pilot, and knocked down her chimneys. The Captain
went up on deck, cursed the pilot, went down on the lower deck,
knocked down two deck-hands, and raised cain generally. Burges
expected he would tackle him again, but the Captain did not want
any of that gun. When we arriv